


One Chance

by villalunae



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, is it doc scratch, its probably doc scratch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-09
Updated: 2015-06-09
Packaged: 2018-04-03 14:39:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4104559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/villalunae/pseuds/villalunae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>If you could go back far enough to change something, would you do it?</p><p>Of course you would.</p><p>You just haven't thought of the consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Chance

"You have one chance."

"I know."

"You can't back out once you've accepted, you know?"

"I know."

"I'm just making this clear, you can't--"

"Just give me the fucking book."

He sighs. Another lost soul doomed to failure. If only he realized what might happen. What could happen.

What will happen.

He turns to a bookcase and peers closely at the binders of books, looking for the right one. Soon enough He finds the black book, one with the title,"One Chance." He turns back around and hands it to the young man.

"Once you open the book, you are bound," He tells him, glancing at the man sitting at the other end of the table. The man stares at the cover. Finally he opens his mouth.

"I'll be able to fix it, right?"

"Correct."

"And if I don't?"

"Then you are forever doomed to live in that timeline."

"Couldn't I just summon you once more?"

"Boy, the book will be turned to ash once you ask of it what you desire. I will no longer be able to grant you your wish. You'll have memory of what you've done, surely you will, but I am afraid you will only set your sights on consequence once you have changed the story."

The man stared blankly down at the black book, his hands barely trembling. He watches closely as He wonders what could possibly be going through the mind of the boy. Surely weighing the pros and cons, surely thinking of how he could live without it. The man seemed torn when he summoned Him, unsure of what else to do. Now, however, he was fairly certain.

The man traced his fingers gingerly to the edge of the cover, a finger barely grasping the soft leather-bound book. Slowly, the man's finger picks the cover up and pulls it open, revealing a blank, yellowed page, worn with age. The man puts the cover down and stares at it.

"Now I just . . ."

He gives the boy an ink bottle and quill, setting it beside the book. The man glances at it before holding it in his left hand and dabbing it with ink. The boy gives a quick look at Him before blotting the page, staining it with ink. Slowly the man writes out his wish on the paper, dabbing the quill in ink only once more as he writes carefully. After a moment he is done, setting the quill on the table and staring at Him. He looks down at the page.

"I want to fix what I have done wrong."

He stares back up at the boy before giving a sly smirk and snapping his fingers, the room warping and pulling the edges of reality into shapes and sharp corners. The man grips onto his seat, staring now at the book slowly burning in flame and turning to ash, his words glaring red with blood on the page. Wind rippled across the room and the remains of pages flip rapidly, urneadible words etched onto the soft yellowed pages. The man looks back up at Him, staring with wide eyes of disbelief and horror. He smiles.

"Honored to assist, Mr. Vantas."

The room bleeds with colors and He disappears from sight, cackling with the remains of the black book now engulfed in flame and leaving Karkat Vantas to the world he desired.

 

Karkat Vantas is seven years old again.

He remembers this day quite clearly.

It was his first day of school and his father had just dropped him off in the classroom. Other kids were already inside and he could feel himself trembling with fear while the teacher was at her desk, scribbling something on paper. Karkat walked forward, looking around anxiously as he puts down his gray backpack and wanders off to the reading corner. He feels himself fumble with a book as he pulls it out and turns to sit on a green bean bag chair, one that looked old and used. He opens the first page and stumbles over words like 'Forest' and 'Grandmother'. He turns the page and continues reading until he feels like he's being watched and pulls down the book ever so slightly to reveal a tiny girl with messy blonde hair and a wide grin.

"Hi!" She greets him, her smile missing a tooth in the front. "I'm Nepeta!"

He stares at her for a moment.

"I'm Karkat."

"Do you wanna come and play house with me?" She asks, her big green eyes bright and excited. She fixes her blue headband as she waits for an answer from the young boy.

"Sure."

This did not happen before.

 

Karkat Vantas is twelve years old again.

He is attending a play put on by the school that one of his closest friends is in.

He watches as she steps out on the balcony, her tiny voice echoing in the auditorium. The boy underneath her replies.

Later he watches as the girl takes a drink out of her cup and falls onto a stone slab. The boy comes in soon after and finds the girl on it. He makes a tearful monolouge before pressing a kiss to the girl's lips.

Karkat feels a flare of envy wash over him.

He stabs himself and Karkat feels better about it.

This did not happen before.

 

Karkat Vantas is fourteen years old again.

He is not crushing on a girl he used to like.

He is crushing on another girl he's known for years.

This did not happen before.

 

Karkat Vantas is sixteen years old again.

And he is utterly enamored by what happened to small blonde girl he used to know.

She's a bit taller and her hair is shorter, her green eyes seem to sparkle even more than they used to and they dance around wondrously before settling on someone in the room.

That someone is not him.

This did not happen before.

 

Karkat Vantas is eighteen years old again and he can't believe his eyes.

The girl he is completely head over heels for is dating someone else.

He is tall, with black hair and a purple stripe through it. He has to lean down to kiss her and Karkat turns away because that should be him right now, not the other. She flutters around him like a butterfly and they tease each other constantly, poking and touching and holding hands.

He can't stand it.

 

Karkat Vantas is still eighteen and he watches as she goes through life with the other instead of him.

He decides to focus on another person but it does not work out and he is still in love with the blonde he used to know well.

He doesn't know what to do.

 

Karkat Vantas is nineteen again and he is broken.

 

Karkat Vantas is twenty again and he is defeated.

 

Karkat Vantas is twenty-one again and he can't stand it.

 

Karkat Vantas is twenty-two again and he watches from the sidelines.

 

Karkat Vantas is twenty-three again and this is when it happened.

 

But now, it does not.

 

Karkat Vantas is twenty-three and it happens to him instead.

 

"You have one chance."

"I know."

"I don't think you do."

"I do."

"Are you aware that others have tried before you and failed, just as you will?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure you'd like to do this?"

"Of course."

He sighs heavily and looks wearily around for a certain book before finding the old leather-bound journal with the title,"One Chance," written on the cover.

"If you must."

"I have to."

"Others have failed."

"I will not."

"You will."

"At least he'll be okay."

"I understand, but do you?"

 

Nepeta Leijon takes the book from His hands and opens it before he can say another word. She already has a pen ready and she quickly scribbles out her wish. He takes a look at it.

"I want to save him."

He smiles slyly.

Of course she does.

Their names are Karkat Vantas and Nepeta Leijon and they are in an endless loop with Him at the center.

**Author's Note:**

> i can hear some of you go "oh shit naw"


End file.
